Senate Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations (JGO) - chair: Taniguchi, vice chair: Takamine

Tuesday, February 10, 2009, 9:00 A.M. Conference Room 016

Testifier: Jean Aoki, LWV of Hawaii Legislative Liaison

Click here to view SB260

Chair Taniguchi, Vice Chair Takamine, members of JGO Committee, The League of Women Voters of Hawaii strongly supports SB 260 which exposes these “sweepstakes” cards obtained from vending machines for a fee, for what they are, and clarifies that “purchase of sweepstakes entry that also provides nominal non-gambling value constitutes gambling even if sweepstakes entry can be obtained without payment of consideration. Here, the intent to fool officials into allowing gambling disguised as legitimate goods-dispensing machines can be foiled by passing this bill. If allowed to continue, creative minds will be prolific in their schemes to fool government officials, and an illicit industry will be allowed to expand under the guise of legality. We must nip this in the bud. Please support SB 260. Thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of this bill.